A Mesmerizing Look at Year 4 of the Solar Dynamics Observatory
Four years ago today, the Solar Dynamics Observatory embarked on a five-year mission to boldly go where no Sun-observing satellite has gone before. SDO uses its three instruments to look constantly at...
View ArticleWatch Mercury Transit the Sun in Multiple Wavelengths
On May 9, 2016, Mercury passed directly between the Sun and Earth. No one had a better view of the event than the space-based Solar Dynamics Observatory, as it had a completely unobstructed view of the...
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X-Rays Are Coming From The Dark Side of Venus
Venus and Mercury have been observed transiting the Sun many times over the past few centuries. When these planets are seen passing between the Sun and the Earth, opportunities exist for some great...
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Satellites Watched Mercury’s Transit From Space, Confirming That Yes, the Sun...
Do you wonder how astronomers find all those exoplanets orbiting stars in distant solar systems? Mostly they use the transit method. When a planet travels in between its star and an observer, the...
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Time-Lapse Video Reveals 10 Years of the Sun’s Life Crushed into One Stellar...
I forget the Sun is a star. I think we all do sometimes. It’s easy to take for granted. The Sun is that glowing thing that rises in the morning and sets in the evening that we don’t generally pay...
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New Solar Model Successfully Predicted Seven of the Sun’s Last Nine Big Flares
Since it launched in 2010, the Solar Dynamics Observatory has helped scientists understand how the Sun’s magnetic field is generated and structured, and what causes solar flares. One of the main goals...
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133 Days of the Sun’s Glory
NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center has released an hour-long time-lapse video that shows 133 days of the Sun’s life. The video shows the Sun’s chaotic surface, where great loops of plasma arch above...
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Astronomers See Flashes on the Sun That Could be a Sign of an Upcoming Flare
Using data from the Solar Dynamics Observatory, scientists have discovered new clues that could help predict when and where the next solar flare might blast from the Sun. Researchers were able to...
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Images From Three Telescopes Merged Into One Spectacular Picture of the Sun
You’ve probably never seen our Sun look like this before. This bizarre image of old Sol is made from data produced by three different space telescopes, each observing the Sun at a different...
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Solar Orbiter Continues to Get Closer to the Sun, Revealing More and More...
On April 10th, ESA’s Solar Orbiter made its closest flyby of the Sun, coming to within just 29% of the distance from the Earth to the Sun. From this vantage point, the spacecraft is performing...
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